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The aircraft carrier fantail opening: Here's what it is used for
42+ min ago (262+ words) Today the US Navy operates 11 carriers, all nuclear-powered: ten 101,000-ton, 1,092 ft long Nimitz class carriers and Gerald R. Ford (the lead of the class Gerald R. Ford) 110,000-ton, 1,106 ft long carrier. As the images in this post show, each aircraft carrier has…...
The cult classic F-19: How F-117 Secret Development led to Birth of a Misleading Stealth Fighter that Never Was
2+ day, 7+ hour ago (384+ words) The Lockheed F-117A was developed in response to an Air Force request for an aircraft capable of attacking high-value targets without being detected by enemy radar. By the 1970s, new materials and techniques allowed engineers to design an aircraft with radar-evading or…...
The A-12CB, the Blackbird Carrier Based Mach 3 Spy Plane that never was
4+ day, 6+ hour ago (311+ words) The A-12 reconnaissance aircraft was the product of Project Oxcart, a top-secret Cold War CIA program to develop a high-altitude supersonic aircraft. The aircraft was capable of carrying out sensitive intelligence-gathering missions while flying at speeds exceeding 2,260 miles per hour, or…...
Bailing Out at Hypersonic Speed: X-15’s Ejection Seat
6+ day, 4+ hour ago (275+ words) Three X-15s were built, and they made 199 flights between 1959-1968. The program was a joint US Air Force/Navy/NASA project, and four of its 12 pilots were US Air Force officers. One pilot, USAF Maj. Michael J. Adams, died in an X-15 crash in…...
Boeing 747 pilot tells how to barrel roll the Jumbo Jet (in the simulator)
2+ week, 3+ hour ago (247+ words) The 747 was the result of the work of some 50,000 Boeing people. Called “the Incredibles,” these were the construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries and administrators who made aviation history by building the Boeing 747 — the largest civilian airplane in the world — in…...
RAF Lightning pilot recalls accelerating to Mach 2.2 and zooming to 87,800 feet establishing the (unofficial) world altitude record of the Lightning
3+ week, 1+ day ago (440+ words) The English Electric Lightning is a single seat, twin jet engined, all weather fighter/interceptor – the last pure interceptor type of aircraft designed and built entirely within the UK. The official ceiling of the Lightning was a closely guarded secret…...
The SR-71 that survived double engine unstart while painted by Soviet SA-5 missile radar
3+ week, 3+ day ago (526+ words) Blackbird The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service…...
9 photos of why Aircraft camouflage can be very effective
4+ week, 2+ day ago (384+ words) Camouflage, in the form of paint applied to aircraft, has been regularly studied and experimented with since the First World War. According to the article A Look Back: Olive Drab, Haze Blue and Jet Black: the Problem of Aircraft Camouflage…...
Navy A-7E pilot tells why he had to keep his hands off the stick during cat launch in the Corsair II
1+ mon, 5+ day ago (416+ words) Aircraft carriers are the centerpiece of America’s Naval forces – the most adaptable and survivable airfields in the world. A catapult shot (or cat shot) usually generates up to 4 Gs and the airspeed will go from zero to 160mph in just two…...
Grumman flew F-14A No. 3 with starboard wing locked fully forward and port wing swept fully aft (This Tomcat is on display at Cradle of Aviation Museum)
1+ mon, 6+ day ago (286+ words) Designed in 1968 to take the place of the controversial F-111B, then under development for the Navy’s carrier fighter inventory, the F-14A used the P&W TF30 engines and AWG-9 system and carried the six Phoenix missiles that had been intended for the…...